The Internet enables access to a vast archive of data that may be exploited to provide users with a great wealth of information. However, the enormous amount of information made available via the Internet may also be difficult navigate. For example, a search of the Internet using a term that is too generic may result in millions of results, many of which are unhelpful to a search recipient. Conversely, a search that is too specific or narrow may exclude many pertinent results that may be helpful to the search recipient.
When authors generate documents for publication, such as via the Internet, the authors are typically free to select descriptors (names, identifiers, etc.) for entities discussed in their documents. Often, authors shorten a long identifier of an entity (e.g., product, title, or other identifier) to create a shorter phrase to refer to the entity. These phrases can be an individual's preferred description of the entity. Thus, the descriptor is a short identifier of the entity's conventional name. Some entities include many descriptors which may make locating an entity during an Internet search more difficult than if the entity used a same identifier.
In an example, an author may refer to a product (entity) by only the model number (a possible descriptor) rather than a longer conventional name that may include the manufacturer, class, or other identifying features listed in a complete (formal) identifier of the product. Additionally, some authors may select different descriptors for identical entities such that an Internet search of only one descriptor may not retrieve all documents discussing the entity because some authors do not use the searched descriptor.